Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Even though I am out of Infy (half heartedly) I still feel attached to it. I can cite 100 odd reasons as to why I still stay attached even if I hated few aspects during my stay. I got a cold shoulder over there on which obviously I couldn't lean and the time always comes in life to move to next phase and I had to do that. There are many memories attached to Infy which make it a place near to heart.

My fav click. View of cricket ground, multiplex and building with
top in the shape of NRN's signature

First and foremost thing is Infosys was the platform to improve my writing skills and get few great friends. Hence the fact that Infy blogs were being destroyed lead to a heart break (well almost ;) )

It is larger than my Btech life. The duration , the kind of friends and experiences are unmatchable to any happenings in pre infy life atleast to me!

I dont think the college feel one gets here is possible in any other company. Of course it has its own benefits and losses.

The forever friends who even after crossing so many phases in life remember you always and never forget to stay in touch

The Mysore training is one marvelous experience and the hyd infy days altogether make a big chronicle!

There she is ! The magnificent GEC 1

Swimming pool at ECC

Rules which were never followed

The royal life in Mysore which was short lived but seemed long due to the never ending training period will forever be etched in my memory. By the end of the training we only wanted it to get extended. It is the most romantic place a student can stay at least in India. The aura and ambiance by evening lifted the moods and spirits but we always stayed back in GEC only to do revisions for the next assignment / comprehensive test but ya it is a different story whether we ever seriously studied!I very well remember the triumphs of success , the valleys of frustration , the peaks of boredom , the easily shed tears , friends , enemies, farewells ,gossips , crushes , movies(hit and flop) at multiplex, the GAZEBO breaks which were relaxing, samosa- Appy combos and frooti , Drum stick chicken which I used to love and had it on the day one of my best buddies was leaving , the coffee day breaks , FC 1 maggie counter and juice (favorite of all), Panama chicken Biryani which used to have a single large piece which I and my friend Ipsita struggled to finish with forks and knives in the long lunch breaks which were huge affairs , Sandwiches at loyal world ECC, laundromat, amul butter-bread and maggi which come under the major staple food there , the couples, stories which even lead to marriages , romances which were short lived behind the bushes or on the GEC steps and ended as they entered production :P (Post training period. Describing it so that non infoscions understand) and so much more .

The memory of the day is still strong, when I spoke to a guy who was not a great friend but lifted my spirits when I failed in the test saying , "you are not the only one here . Go and count in every Classroom FR3 , TL1 etc etc. There are many. Many who even were gold medalists or stood first in their respective colleges. Don't give up". Those were moments when I realized all were sailing or sinking in the same ship :) I still remember that 2 AM talk and the blinking lamp posts and we both talking standing at the center of the road ! Where else will you get such lavish empty roads occupying 100s of acres and neatly manicured lawns in a training institute ? Kudos to the house keeping staff there. The road shines better than your sprawled bed spread which will be neatly folded by the time you come back from classes. I always missed that royal treatment once I entered production!

Neat and tidy hostel room

I missed those long mid night talks and violation of the rules , the primary violation is- boiling Maggie in the kettle. I was the only one who used to get up early in the morning on Sundays , atleast in my wing to enjoy the view, to have a walk around the campus ! I can never forget the movies I watched in multiplex starting from Casino Royale to namaste london , Guru and many more !

The ROYAL multiplex. I was visibly perplexed when I came to know about the weekend movies here !!

When we parted we only sighed wishing few more months in that spectacular campus with no compres , 0 classes , 0 rules and only fun but I guess we value the place much more as the tenure was short and as we came out of it in flying colors . The surge of messages and wishes from all batch mates made me write this. Feels good to be wished even after drifting away or as we say moving on after leaving Infy. The first love is always the first and has the best place in every ones' hearts !

GEC2 - which was only under construction during our stay

Rain - View from a new food court which sprang just behind the multiplex

The 4 1/2 to 5months of life if described elaborately will it self make a good story but I believe this is not the right place and time to do it. Infy happened ages back but still feels like it was a month back. We had mixed emotions then but now looking back, we can only smile and feel proud that we got a chance to stay there and feel special. The talks and the lectures are forgotten but the memories are still afresh!

Keep smiling and rocking !

PS: All these snap shots were taken when I visited Mysore last year and was quite amused by many new editions but GEC-1 remains an all time favorite adda for obvious reasons!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

I am writing this after a long break. Hence will be taking my own sweet time as I lost track of details :( This post is continued fromMalaysia Trip .We started for Singapore in a starmart bus on the 4th day morning as per our Itenary .Had tasteless south Indian breakfast early in the morning in one of the restaurants of First world! Lack of proper food and lot of roaming around made me feel little sick and Migraine attacked me the night before and I was feeling bad thinking I may not enjoy Singapore. The luxurious comfortable bus with massage chairs which were as spacious as couches relieved me and I stared out of the window at rain droplets as we moved on. I switched on the massager and felt heavenly. Rain, the bus , clouds and hills . Didnt feel like wishing any thing else in life !

Fog at bus stop- Genting in the morning

Singapore is at the Southern tip of the Malay Peninsula . We reached Singapore in no time. It took 2 and 1/2 hrs precisely but the drive was so heavenly that we didnt realise how much time it took. Made some Indian friends in the bus among whom one exclaimed that her Chachi's daughter looks exactly like me. Where ever you go in the world it always feels good to see intervening Indians :) It feels like home!

Our hotel FORTUNA was in Mustafa Center . As and when we checked in we tossed luggage in the room and hunted for a Indian hotel in Mustafa. Food is very expensive. We had Hyd Biryani (which was not exactly Hyderabadi) on which we spent 700-800 Indian Rupees .I was not tracking expenses as I was too tired but remembered to get the dollar conversion done as soon as we entered Mustafa . One dollar == 39 INR it was. We were offered free paapads with green chutney which I munched on rest lessly as If I just arrived from a drought area ! Post lunch we went exploring the Mustafa center as we were on our own for that half day. We roamed around electronic shops, Some local goodies , clothings , were happy to see sarwana bhavan and anand bhavan hotels of Delhi there. Mustafa was totally INDIA. Its lot better than the Little India of Malaysia!

@ Mustafa

After some window shopping we decided we will discuss on buying a Sony/Samsung LCD TV(32 inch) as those were at the cheapest possible prices one can pay. Next day morning our cab was waiting outside the hotel and we rushed after gobbling some upma and drinking some cold tea (Tea which cooled down). The cab driver kept on boasting about Singapore and the life and how fast every thing progresses there unlike India . He showed us the "KRRISH" building. Building where Hrithik jumps in Krrish but as stopping there was not allowed we took Pics from the moving Cab!

The "Krrish" building

. The driver Mohammad/ Mehmood , I dont exactly remember his name succeded to irritate me in 15min. Unlike the Christopher of Malaysia this guy I guess was born and brought up in Singapore so he doesnt know how much India progressed or changed. When he showed MLCP (multi level car parking) and told - You wouldnt have seen this in India Imran in a high pitched voice shouted that there are 100s of these in Gurgaon and 100s of such malls too. I too shouted , "we have MLCP in our office" . He said "Oh ! Is it . Good . Good!" Thank heavens he didnt brag about INDIA not being sophisticated after that .

I remembered a comedy movie in Telugu (Manmadhudu) where Brahmanandam behaves similarly saying "PARIS is like INDIA fast forwarded for 50 years " and learns a lesson later when a thief steals all their bags :D :D Its a ROFL scene and I was controlling my laughter when ever Mehmood spoke. He showed the clear roads and said - " You wont find any beggar here like in India. Clean Roads . No beggar. " I wished the coffee which he was drinking from a plastic cover using a straw spills on him !It was odd to see the plastic cover and straw. I didnt see any where this unique style of tea/ coffee. Imran asked him - "Is this the way you drink coffee here. He proudly nodded and then said, "Some of the Indians say its bad."

Then we quipped in chorus, "Its extremely bad . Anything in plastic may lead to cancer and its not hygenic. In our country we never drink a tea if it gets cold." :P He thought to be silent for the rest of the drive other than just guiding and mentioning the history and importance of few places. He then took us to some memorial built in the memory of warriors which was not that fascinating . Just a tall tower with names engraved on it. We just took photos around and entered the cab in 10min.Our next stop was "Merilion park" . Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or "kota singa". To know more go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlion . Actually Merilion Park has a great view in the night but due to lack of time , as we have only one and half day for Singapore as per Itenary we had to wind it off in the morning .

Merilion park (night view)- This image made me tad sad when I saw in friends' albums. The below one is googled.

Flyer on the way for singapore city viewing

Now You Know what we missed ? Isnt it sexy :( ?

So, we cursed our travel agent and Mehmood for giving us stipulated time where ever we went and got down to enjoy Merilion!

@ Merilion

We at Merilion

We took many photos in different angles in and around the mysterious Merilion - which felt like the heart and pride of Singapore City ! History of how the city evolved is fascinating . You may want to google and know if interested. We were happy at Merilion and spent more time than the alloted minutes to us :) and our next stop was a Chinese Buddha temple which I loved but shall discuss in my next post soon. Theres not much left as we spent very less time in Singapore but theres some thing important and beautiful to discuss in the next post :) Hence taking a break

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Not in my worst dreams I ever thought I will dislike a SRK's movie to this extent. I was never a die hard fan of all Yash Chopra's movies but I do like the dreamy feel , love and its intensity, the breath taking locations , beautiful heroines and if I tell in brief too many elements in the movies always made it tough to dislike them even if they are unrealistic at times. Be it Veerzaara , Dil to paagal hai or the legendary dilwale dulhania lejayenge to mention a few. You can never get bored by these movies as there are too many interesting elements like dance , Madhuri, the nativity , family bonds , unending romance and last but not the least our dimpled charismatic SRK!

Jab Tak Hai Jaan being Yash Chopra's last one I thought it would be his best or may be atleast a jumble of all his gems but sadly as it turns out it didnt even stand at 2 on the scale if you rate the best Yash chopra movie at 10.If there is one pit fall you may ignore but the story has gone to toss and the routine beauty born with silver spoon who travels in a Bentley and whose engagement gets printed in magazines falling in love with a pauper like SRK who works in markets or shovels snow or sings to earn extra money is not new in a Yash chopra movie but the blunder lies in how unreal the roles are, specially Katrina's who asks for some boon in church and sacrifices something linked to her in return everytime. Seriously ? Did he think audience will be moved by this ?Sadly I could only see audience moving in and out of the cinema hall!

Thankfully SRK is at ease with his in-built romantic charishma who even at the age of 47 maintains that unmistakable deadly gaze at her girl and woos her effortlessly . The choice of girls is the next biggest blunder. Anushka with her stereotypical chirpy delhi girl image bored me beyond limits. She is definitely a good actress but she can do tons better in different roles! Kat / Rich Meera ditches SRK/ Samar due to some stupid sentiment she has when Samar meets with a hit and run accident and the moment where I seriously wanted to come out of the theater was the same stinky sentiment repeating in the second half after a second accident where he gets something called retrogressive amnesia and giving a shooting pain in audiences brains and A**es he forgets anushka and remembers only Kat !! There are no great punches nor noteworthy dialogues by the ladies other than the one where Anushka says She is an Instant make up break up kinda girl who thinks of love later. Srk was tempting in that military uniform with the skill to diffuse any bomb any time any where but the reason to do it is love as declared by Anushka the discovery channel reporter / documentary film maker in the end.

Gosh! Thats it . I was doomed. I felt I should get my money back as I spent extra bucks for the FDFS. SRK whose enticing charm never failed to charm me failed the very first time in my life, the major reason being the leading ladies on whom the charm was directed, the story line which has gone to toss , the long 180 min movie which will make audience yawn , the expression less Katrina who along with looking as stunning as in amsutra ads should learn some acting too, now that she is on the toppers list of bolly wood , Anushka Sharma and her repeated dialogues about her being a supergirl and careless bitch and her fake tears.

Come on if you dont passionately love SRK dont fake it . Seriously I felt I can do better:P and there was a competition between Kat and Anushka as to who can be more FAKE!? and the winner is Kat .The root cause for the
movie to be a bore is Anushka and Katrina sans the Yash Chopra factor unlike
the naturals like Sridevi , Madhuri , Kajol and so on. The elegance and the radiance
missed here how ever hard Katrina tried wearing a white salwaror chiffon saree. There are few hot making out scenes and SRK's first lip lock kiss but even they just become lukewarm in the king-dumb of boredom.
Music : A.R. Rehman definitely was sleepy when he did this. Other than the title sequence(poem) , Challa and Heer I liked nothing else. Kat looked ravishing in Ishq shava though. Thats the best she can do - LOOK gorgeous!Hoped Katrina to turn to a ghost for a twist when ever she wore black or white . Wished SRK did not do this movie ! Dreamt Yash chopras last one to be an intense love story like a veerzaara or to be much more dreamy and magical - Only tempting thing is Leh-Ladakh , and may be Katrina's trinkets and bracelets if you AVOID that expression on her face and last but not the least SRK's gaze and the look in second half but ofcourse his killer looks, shades, the well built body in 2nd part have gone wasted .That's the best way I can putit . All in all , highly disappointed.Lastly if you love SRK like me you may enjoy few bits and pieces or if you want to go watch Yash Chopra's last for the sake of all his beautiful creations till date , well do watch it. My Rating : (--___2/5_____--)

Thursday, November 8, 2012

As and when you start reading the book you realise its not "girlish" even if it is by a woman author. Infact it beautifully and seamlessly reflects each and every persons thoughts - A girl's , a boy's , suppressed , open , closed thoughts and also thoughts of a career oriented mom or a wife who lost trust in his husband - so on so forth. Its all about perspectives , feelings and thoughts.

I loved this book so much that I was relishing few "paragraphs" by re reading the lines - for instance the one where Anisha- The protagonist wants to hug Keds as he remembers her favorite strawberry flavor. That is what any one feels like doing when some one whom you like doesn't forget your favorite flavor even after he has a girl friend and passionate make outs! This is called "Friend-ship" and liking each other irrespective of changes in each one's lives !! Some times when a person gets a partner / girl friend they get sweeped out of the world in to some dream land and forget all old relations but people like Keds make you feel good about making friends even if they are annoying at times! Keeping aside Keds and Anisha..the way Gurgaon is described attracted me more towards the book as I am staying here post my wedding .Hence the book is much more realistic to me . When the condos , DPSor silver oaks or the roshini apts or the mehrauli highway are mentioned all the localities just danced infront of my eyes !I could sit in veranda and feel the characters walking around me as I live in the same locality! :)

Story-line

Anisha's father is expired and it has been 3 years she lived with out him but obviously the lacuna doesnt go off and she loses interests in so many things. They shift to Gurgaon from Minnesota and its quite a culture shock to her and she cannot mingle with the crowd easily and gets more and more lonely when she realises Keds has a girl friend and her busy Mom -Mrs. Rai has no time for her other than the little mid night chat they have eating apples and cheese and sipping diet coke.

She makes a friend Rani in the same apartment whom she rescues from her pervert uncle and jumps in joy when Rani starts living with them but in later days she hates the "perfect" Rani, her holier than thou image. This is some thing which happens to any girl when she enters the insecure zone and loses priority! The story unfolds in to many episodes, how she becomes short tempered whenever she faces Rani , how she doesnt like JD much the one who wants to enter in to next stage of relation with MRS. Rai who is a work partner, how she consoles Keds but later on gets rude even with him.

The way her heart skips when ever she sees Karan is also so beautifully described. She meets all odds to just meet and spend time with him, all the while with a fact paced heart beat and too many fighting thoughts.

The rest of the story tells us if the decisions she made are good for her or not , how human emotions overpower most of the times , how she finally goes to her Dadi's house to find solace but gets sad seeing the plight of her grand mom and how every nook and corner of the house reminds her of her dad! Its almost tearful when she is swinging in the garden and remembering only the smiling face of her dad and nothing else. She tries hard to fade that memory but it just doesnt go!

This story is a simple flow of emotions which are natural in every ones day to day life ! Jealousy , love , hatred , to be wanted , not to be wanted and so on so forth !
Go grab the book offline or on flipkart and travel with Anisha which will remind you episodes from your own life! Am sure any girl / boy , man/ woman can connect to this book!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

What Can I say about her. The day I first saw her somewhere in March 2010 I was awestruck looking at how precisely she was made. It was hard to believe that humans made it !Its tough to see such beauty being designed these days. The precision , the symmetry , carvings, the love , devotion were all reflecting in her nooks , corners and crannies! I gape at her, marvel at her magnificency and admire her endlessly. To me Tajmahal is definitely a symbol of love.
The varying comments of the researchers , travelers and onlookers do not flinch me coz I can see the love and devotion in every brick and design!No body will allot 20+ years to make this marvellous structure if there is no love for whom it was made.

The symmetry of Tajmahal- This was in summer 2010- hence a clear view

A side of the beauty along with one of its gates (in red) right to her.

I am writing this article due to surge of emails I always get with subject "Is Tajmahal a real symbol of Love?"
Few supposed to be facts about Shahjahan originally named as Prince Khurram, son of Jahangir and grandson of Akbar (to know more go to-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahjahan) are quite alarming, like he slept with his daughter Jashanara (according to one site) or he had "5000" harems in court and he just played with them and Shahjahan's sole motto in life was to sleep with as many women as possible. I dont remember the URL of the site in that mail but I can see the loathe and venom in each and every line as some where it is also written that like many muslims his sole motto was also to nail as many women as possible and be polygamous. I then realised I cant trust this site much as it was targeting the whole Muslim community along with the brutality and ruthlessness of the king. I know that history and the royal desires and their lives are quite interesting as well as disturbing but a man whose sole purpose is sex can never expand the kingdom or make it rich !Some sites say the love towards Mumtajmahal originally called as Arjumand Banu Begum (To know more refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumtaz_Mahal) is bull and the Taj mahal being built out of love is crap. Rabindranath Tagore describes in his poem - TAJ MAHAL is like the tear drops of Shahjahan! The site says Rabindranath never knew the facts so he wrote like that and it is actually built to berate hindus on top of Shiva temple. I read some where that govt took all the measures and hence the severe security so as another Ayodhya- Babri doesnt happen !

shahjahan's throne in the fort. The crack is due to the Britishers attack as per the guide

Mumtaz mahal

Now any excavation will lead to another one buried below and the religion / caste disparities were there from times immemorial hence I have nothing to say here than praying that people dont go and destroy Tajmahal !

Most of the sites say Shahjahan was all gloomy for more than an year after her death and was imprisoned by his own son Aurangazeb and he spent last living years in the prison with white-grey beard , a frail look watching Taj mahal from the fort. You can visualise this when you visit that prison , his throne and the Taj- View point in the fort.

The king must have been polygamous and am not sure about the horrendous things some historians state like he slept with all possible women. May be he was brutal and his secret as well as open affairs were unacceptable but that was how it was during many Badshahs' reign. I used to watch Jhansi ki rani starring the stunning Varsha usgavkar when in school and in that her husband is shown as a womenizer(Its argued he is homosexual in some sites and that he has many mistresses in the other).Now am not sure of the facts. No body used to say no to the royal commands and that was how life was in those days.Ultimately she leaves the palace to go the warfront. Every one knows her valor where she carries her adopted kid on her back while fighting!

A lot has been told about Mumtaj-Shahjahan's love episodes too like she was the only one whom he passionately loved and that the rest of the two wives were just for name sake and he dutifully gave them an offspring but his true love was mumtaj mahal whom he liked since she was 14 and got married after 5 years the event which was disliked by his mom Noorjahan another beautiful queen and wife of Jahangir !Shahjahan himself named her MUMTAJMAHAL (which means the official queen of the palace.) Am sure if there is no love at all , none would do it !There is also a belief that the king wanted a black tajmahal tomb for himself to be constructed just opposite to the white one. There are no solid proofs even on this!